Impacts of Satellite Urban Sprawl on Sustainable Agricultural Land Use: A Case Study of Kisumu County

Abstract

Urbanization has been and still remains a driving factor of economic growth for any given country whether developing or developed country. This is because nearly all commercial activities take place at least in a given urban set up. Urbanization not only has positive impacts but it has as well negative impacts to the surrounding areas where they develop. In my paper, I will analyze the impacts of satellite urban sprawl and encroachment into agricultural land and other land uses as well as its impact on the micro-climate where they exist. Kisumu County has a problem of massive land use conversion from agricultural and other land uses into urban set up. This has led to the rapid decline of most precious and fertile large agricultural land parcels into proportionally smaller land parcels. I will employ the use of GIS and Remote Sensing to analyze satellite urban sprawl and its encroachment and impacts on sustainable agricultural land. The methods will employ both scientific and statistical means to analyze and correlate the various impacts of urbanization to agricultural land use. The expected results from this paper will be the map showing how urban set ups have been able to grow and encroach into other land uses for the past 30 years from 1988 to 2018. Maps showing the topography of Kisumu county and its relation to urban growth and finally I will have a map showing further relationship between topography, agricultural land use and urban growth. This research paper will help Kisumu County Government on making decisions when issuing licenses on land use conversion in order to control the menace of rapid urban sprawl across the county. It will also aid the county to carry out proper regional and urban planning to ensure sustainable development in the county. In conclusion, by monitoring and having a proper plan for urban growth in the county, the most precious and productive agricultural farmlands will be maintained, this will maintain and even improve agricultural production at the same time urban population will still exist in urban set up. This is likely to improve the socio economic of the county which will improve the living standards of the residents in Kisumu County.